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A man sitting in his car at Crunch Fitness in Bellmore was approached by Plainview resident Robert Wong, 21, who allegedly asked his victim if he was his Uber driver, then brandished a handgun and demanded the victim get out of his car and hand over his wallet.
It is alleged that Wong then entered his victim’s vehicle and fled northbound on Centre Avenue. Nassau County Police officers quickly located the stolen vehicle and attempted to pull over Wong, at which point he sped away.
Officers followed Wong onto Southern State Parkway, driving westbound in the eastbound lanes. Wong then made a U-turn, attempted to exit the parkway and lost control, crashing into a guardrail. Wong then attempted to flee on foot, resisting officers who used a taser to subdue him.
Wong was taken into custody without further incident and transported to an area hospital for treatment on minor injuries, police said. While attempting to pull Wong over, a Nassau County Police officer suffered a wrist injury while avoiding a collision with the stolen vehicle. He was also transported to the hospital for treatment and evaluation.
While processing Wong’s arrest, it was later determined that he was allegedly responsible for burglaries at Dunkin Donuts on Old Country Road in Plainview, 7-Eleven on Covert Avenue in Stewart Manor and a carjacking on Railroad Avenue in Wantagh last year.
Wong was charged with three counts of second-degree robbery, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle and resisting arrest for the Bellmore incident. He was charged with three additional second-degree robbery counts for the incidents dating back to last year.
Following his processing, Wong was scheduled to be arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Friday, Jan. 3.
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